daisychain, We are educators as well. We hear these things frequently. The big one here (we live in a fairly poor area) is that teachers are paid too much. I wish everyone who thinks that teachers have it made would have the opportunity to volunteer in a school on a regular basis. These are the ones that never do. I am not talking about coming in to bring in goodies for a classroom party. What teachers do everyday can not even be described to those that have no experience in a school setting. There is not enough room to type it all! If you have not worked in a school setting, you can not possibly understand enough to make insulting comments on the profession. The "summers off" thing cracks me up. I think some parents honestly think that the job is done when their kids aren't actually in school. That is only a part of the job! Yes, the kids have the whole summer off, the teachers do not. But again, it is hard to make someone understand that if they do not work in this profession. We also have people in our family who have had corporate jobs that required a lot of hours and traveling. They were paid for it. That was the profession they chose. (If you are doing that kind of work for free and hating it, then I don't know what to tell you!) So when they make comments about teachers, it just makes me scratch my head. Anyone who had the ability to go to college had that option! People who choose to comment about teachers "having it made" are really insulting themselves, and making themselves look fairly silly. At least that is the way I have learned to look at it. If this is the ideal job, aren't you a fool not to take it?? (SImilar to what Olychick was saying...) There have been a lot of supportive comments from wonderful people here! We just have to understand that there are some people in this world that will never be convinced. Maybe we can even feel sorry for them that they missed out on the opportunity to be the most overpaid, underworked professional in the world ;-)

Um, this entire post is about me being OUT of the house during a showing, what the heck are you talking about? Let's not turn it into something it's not. The only reason I was home that day was because the realtor was an HOUR and 15 minutes late. I was bringing the animals back home at a time she should have been long gone. Ummmmm considering you mentioned this in your OP: Both my husband and I work full-time, and we have 2 dogs and a cat that have to be taken out of the house during showings. For that reason, we've been trying to schedule showings in the evening when we're both there, but for these people, I agreed to have them come this afternoon. - It was perfectly legit for me to comment on the fact that you are home during showings since you, yourself mentioned it in your OP - that's what I'm talking about. It was fair game and if you didn't want advice on it, then you shouldn't have mentioned it. Moreover, I stand by my original statement - you could be hindering the sale of your home by being present when buyers come through and by having such restrictive notice for showings regardless of the reason for it. In a perfect world, but unfortunately, not everyone is able to leave work at the drop of a hat. I'm not, nor is my husband. He's a Director, and I'm a VP, we have very demanding schedules. If I had my druthers, I'd only have showings in the evening, but I realize that is unrealistic. I guess we should quit our jobs so we can be available to get our pets out on 1 hour's notice. Yeah, that would work! Why do you have to leave work? Do you have a lockbox? Can you crate your pets? The fact does remain, you can very well be hindering the sale of your home by being present for showings and having unreasonable notice requirements. It can indicate to potential buyers that if the seller is not flexible in showings in terms of notice and having to be there when they view the home, they will wonder how inflexible the seller will be should they make and offer and go through the whole process to buy the home. People are trying to give you honest advice and feedback. Responding rudely is not appreciated.

Please don't get me wrong,I love my DH and he takes really good care of me.LOL I don't mean to sound ungrateful and I know how lucky I am! I normally don't mind sitting in the car waiting for someone,and I really didn't mind it yesterday.I like to just watch people,but there weren't many going in and out of either place.LOL.Yesterday just started off on the wrong foot and I really would have liked to have gone in both places with him but neither one had a scooter or a wheel chair. Not getting the flu shot upset me more than anything else.LOL "After you used it to get down the ramp, where did it go?" I leave it sitting at the end of the ramp and he picks it up and puts it in the back of the truck after he opens the door of the truck for me.He just forgot this time.And it is a folding one. Cynic-The sign on the door stated that the nurses were at the schools,so I assume they would have known a day or so ahead of time that they weren't going to be there. "I though there was a female gene that automatically replies Well if you don't know, I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU!!!" Nope,I don't have that gene I guess because I have never used that line. ((((Ruthie))))......I do know how fortunate I am and it really wasn't that big of a deal.

@Jenn, In europe houses are built out of concrete. Walls, floors, ceilings, and its doesn't matter where you live. Tornado's or hurricanes wouldn't do anything to them. When the housing market crashed in america in 2007, investors tried to go over seas to starts building the garbage they build in america. European governments didn't want that garbage there. Some slipped through the cracks but they put a stop to it real fast. America's building codes are to barley hold the house up. They crumble like a deck of cards and people keep rebuilding over and over again. Lots of $$$$$$ in that market. Europeans have a different mentality and they build things to last. I live in west chicago suburbs. My neighbors saw my house being build and till this day they still tell me they thought a bunker was being built. LOL!!! In America its hard to even find a contractor that can do the things they do in europe. Custom homes are expensive in america cause heck, if people are willing to pay a ton of money for a pile of crap, then of course a custom build is gonna be expensive. Another thing, if your outside during a tornado or hurricane then you deserve to get smacked in the face with a brick. lol